COVID-19 Related Negative Life Events and Psychological Distress: The Role of Emotion and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies.

This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the potential role of hopelessness, helplessness, and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between adverse life events and psychological distress among Turkish adults. Participants' ages ranged from 18 to 64 years old. The majority were female. From June 21, 2021, to August 18, 2021, 432 participants responded to an online questionnaire that included the Negative Life Events List (NLEs), the Helplessness, and Hopelessness, and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies Scale (CERS) and General Health Questionnaire-12. The findings suggest that the NLEs, directly and indirectly, predict psychological distress through helplessness and hopelessness. The direct and indirect predictive effects of the NLEs on psychological distress varied depending on the level of CERS. The current study's findings have contributed to our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between the NLEs and psychological distress during pandemics.

Competing Interests: Conflict of İnterestsThe authors declare no conflicts of interest concerning this article's research, authorship, and publication.

(© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)